State money is available to restore fish passages

The state Department of Natural Resources is accepting applications from small forest landowners to apply for grants to remove culverts and fish passage barriers.

Through the Family Forest Fish Passage Program, the agency has enough funding to remove about 100 additional fish blockages statewide through 2014.

Structures eligible for the program must be associated with a road crossing on forestland, on a fish-bearing stream, present a barrier to fish and be owned by a small forest landowner.

Find the online application — and a way for forest landowners to arrange fish passage evaluations — at www.surveymonkey.com/FFFPP.

State law requires forestland owners to remove barriers so salmon and other fish can migrate and reach food and spawning areas upstream, but the cost of correcting or replacing culverts can be prohibitively high for many small forest landowners.

The program has corrected 232 barriers and reconnected 485 miles of fish habitat statewide since 2003.